1962 Arab Socialism

Written by Nasser

In 1955, it began to strike me that our regime began as a nationalist revolution with no general ideology. The problem was that nationalism alone was not an adequate social philosophy. I gradually began to realize that Egypt needed guiding principals to solve our social problems. For this reason, I created a new ideology of socialism for the country. Before I go into more detail, I’d like to point out that “socialism” can have a lot of meanings. It can mean state ownership of factories and other means of production, workers’ participation in the management of industries, national policies aimed at equalizing personal incomes, or state economic planning. When speaking of Egypt, the term “socialism” should be applied to state ownership and management of the means of production. In that sense it was not unusual, for already factories and irrigation works are state enterprises.

I’ll admit that I was not always a so-called “socialist.” Seven years ago, I was at the Bandung Conference in which I met with Asian socialist leaders. A year later, the 1956 constitution promised the government to strive for social justice by raising living standards and providing old age benefits, public health, and social insurance, however free enterprise and private property were also respected. Then it was the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1958 that had brought me in contact with a more developed socialist ideology than I had ever known before. During its three years of existence, the UAR tried to develop a distinct Arab interpretation of socialism. Syria’s Baath Party was the first Arab movement to attempt a combination of both nationalism and socialism. It left major traces including the slogan, “freedom, Socialism, Unity,” which the UAR adopted for itself.

Egypt’s early nationalist, including myself, criticized foreign ownership of our utilities and factories. I knew I had to do something and eventually it was an injustice corrected by my nationalization decrees after the Suez War. I believe it was then people started to see and resent the widening economic gap between oil-rich counties like Saudi Arabia and those poor in petroleum and natural gas like the UAR. It was decided that if the Arabs combined their military and political power, they would share their economic resources to create a strong state that would guarantee a decent living standard to everyone. As first step at doing this, the UAR in 1958-1959 required new industrial firms to be licensed, barred any person from being a director of more than one corporation, placed 13 public utility companies under the state audit department, nationalized the large banks, subjected most newspapers and publishing houses to the National Union, and drew up its first five-year plan, which expressly aimed at doubling the national income in 10 years. In addition to this, new laws were created last July:

1. The regulation of most industries

2. The nationalization of businesses such as textiles, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, shipping, and all banks and insurance firms not already under state ownership

3. Income redistribution, whereby no Egyptian could receive an annual salary above £E 5000 ($11,500) and incomes above £E 10,000 ($23,000) were to be taxed at 90 percent

4. Land reform, under which the maximum individual landholding was reduced from 200 to 100 feddans (Arabic unit of area; 1 feddan=1.038 acres), with the excess to be distributed among peasants, and all future peasant loans would be free of interest.

I think these laws will turn out to be extremely beneficial to Egypt and other Arab nations, and I plan on passing more laws that will weaken the Egyptian bourgeoisie and eliminate the domination of large landowners.

However, I do wish to mention that since the creation of these laws, the National Union has failed to provoke UAR citizens behind me, for it has been corrupted by reactionaries. For this reason, I proposed a National Congress of Popular Forces last October to form a revolutionary organization: the Arab Socialist Union (ASU). The congress is open to workers, peasants, intellectuals, professionals, military men, and owners whose property was not based on exploitation. Students and women are also represented. When the congress met in May of this year, I presented a new National Charter in which I summarized Egypt’s modern history, explain why Arab socialism had become the country’s guiding ideology, stated our aims and framework, and repeated the UAR’s basic domestic and foreign policies. I also have decided, for the first time, to accept family planning as necessary to resist Egypt’s overpopulation. I waited anxiously for six weeks as the Congress debated my charter, and was finally relieved when I got news last week that it was officially passed.

I am proud to say that Egypt is now politically, economically, intellectually, and socially committed to an ambitious modernization program. However, it can only be achieved if we remain at peace with our neighbors. Fortunately, with the United States selling wheat for Egyptian pounds, support from the USSR, and other countries giving aid independently, I am confident that modernization will succeed.